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Del Negro was born on August 9, 1966, in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father, Vince, was a two-time junior college All-American, and taught his son to play basketball at a young age. Vinny made the varsity basketball team during his freshman year at Cathedral High School. He caught the attention of Dennis Kinne, the basketball coach at Suffield Academy, who persuaded him to attend Suffield Academy so that he could play basketball for them. Vinny led Suffield Academy to two New England championships. He scored 1,116 points, becoming Suffield Academy's all-time leading scorer.[1]

Del Negro worked as a radio commentator for the Phoenix Suns before being promoted to director of player personnel for the Suns in 2006.[2] In 2007, the Suns promoted him to the position of assistant general manager.[3]

On June 9, 2008, multiple media reports indicated Del Negro had agreed to become the new head coach of the Chicago Bulls.[4] He became the favorite for the job after former Bulls' coach Doug Collins withdrew his name from consideration.

Two days later, Del Negro was officially introduced as the new head coach of the Bulls, replacing Jim Boylan and becoming the 17th head coach in Bulls' history.

Del Negro finished his first season as head coach of the Chicago Bulls with a 41-41 record, sufficient for the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls played a seven-game series against the Boston Celtics, featuring four overtime games with a total of a record seven overtime periods, before losing.

Del Negro finished his second season as head coach of the Chicago Bulls with a 41-41 record, sufficient for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls lost the best of seven series in five games against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

On July 6, 2010, multiple league sources confirmed that Del Negro would become the next head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.[6] At the end of Del Negro's first season with the Clippers, the Clippers finished with a record of 32-50, missing the playoffs. Despite missing the playoffs, the Clippers did have the NBA Rookie of the Year, Blake Griffin.[7] Del Negro and Clippers followed up this mediocre season by acquiring All-Star point guard Chris Paul and finishing fifth in the Western Conference with a record of 40-26, one game shy of the division leading Los Angeles Lakers. The Clippers advanced to the second round of the playoffs for only the second time since they moved to Los Angeles in 1984.[8]

A year later, Del Negro led the Clippers to the best season in the franchise's 43-year history. The Clippers notched a franchise-record 17-game winning streak, including a perfect 16–0 mark in December.[9] They won a franchise-record 56 games, their first 50-win season ever, as well as their first Pacific Division title.[8][10] The title was clinched after defeating the Lakers on April 7, which also completed a season sweep of their crosstown rivals, 4–0. The franchise had not swept the Lakers since 1974–75, when the Clippers were the Buffalo Braves.[11] It was also the first time in 20 years since 1992–93 that the Clippers won the season series against the Lakers.[12] However, the Clippers lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Memphis Grizzlies, 4–2, after winning the first two games.[8]

On May 21, 2013, it was announced that the Clippers would not renew Del Negro's contract after its expiration at the end of June.[13] At times during the season, he was criticized for his player rotations. Del Negro had a 128-102 regular-season record in three seasons with the club, and his .557 winning percentage was the highest in club history. He was only the second coach to leave the Clippers with a winning record.[a] However, much of the club's success was credited to Paul and Griffin.[8] According to Yahoo! Sports and CBSSports.com, Paul, who was scheduled to become a free agent in the offseason, did not support Del Negro's return. Del Negro felt that Paul had "a lot of say-so" in the team's decisions, and Clippers owner Donald Sterling said he needed to be supportive of the team's star players.[14][15][16] Paul was upset that he was being blamed, and the Clippers later denied any player involvement in the coaching decision.[17]